Power semiconductor modules have one or more power semiconductor chips which are arranged in a package. The package serves to protect the power semiconductor chips from environmental influences, and for electrically insulating the circuit produced by the power semiconductor chips.
By way of example, such a package may have individual side walls, or a package frame which forms the side walls of the module, and also a package cover and/or a baseplate. In order to fabricate the package, the side walls or the package frame must be connected to the package cover and/or to the baseplate with a precise fit and in mechanically robust form.
However, screw connections require screw elements and hence a correspondingly complex assembly process. In order to produce adhesive bonds, the adhesive needs to be distributed, the package portions to be connected need to be mated and the adhesive needs to be cured, which is complex and time-consuming. For ultrasonic welding and locking, it is necessary to observe low process tolerances. In addition, locking allows only low load-bearing capacity to be achieved for the connection. Caulking likewise requires low process tolerances to be observed.